


Koharuno Kumiko - Villager of the Leaf

by oneofthoselostsouls



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Modern girl in Narutoverse, No Uchiha Massacre, Not quite a self-insert, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pairings to be decided - Freeform, Sort of Self-Insert
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-25
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:27:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 17,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25345435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/oneofthoselostsouls/pseuds/oneofthoselostsouls
Summary: Posted FFN.net 2012, still being updated on that site, same name same title.Olivia 17, now Kumiko 10, a leaf villager in the Narutoverse, training to become a kunoichi.  Despite her plans to return home as soon as she is able, and her priorities to survive against the odds, she stupidly makes friends with Naruto. And the situation only escalates. In a world where you know the future, could you resist the urge to meddle? Plot to divert. AU OC
Kudos: 3





	1. Welcome to Wonderland

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was originally posted on fanfiction.net in 2012. The later unedited chapters of this fic are on ffn.net. Same name, same title. As I rewrite each of the current chapters from my ffn fic I'll post them here and on ffn.net

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Olivia, a teenager from Britain, blinks into existence in the Narutoverse - as 9 year old Koharuno Kumiko, a Leaf villager and Ninja Acadmey student. Olivia reacts as well as anyone would.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For my brothers

Down the Rabbit Hole

_Wednesday, 4th January, Konoha's civilian district - 5 years prior to Naruto passing the bell test_

Up until 5 minutes ago, a normal person was all Olivia had ever considered herself to be. Just a normal person who had in turn expected a normal, everyday life. And up until very recently, that had been exactly what she'd been given.

So there she was, enjoying an ordinary Saturday, relaxing in her room, nothing to worry about apart from the bees dying, the plague coming back and the inevitability of World War 3.  
5 minutes later, she was sat, head tucked and bowed between her knees and arms wrapped around her body, more scared than she remembered ever being.  
To cut a long story short (and when the mysterious, very cute author says long, she means the tale of how 17 yr old Olivia Greenley went from her room in Devonshire England to having her head tucked in between her knees on the 4th of January in a completely different universe, was as long as the Lord of the Rings including appendices) - simply put, Olivia was in her room, and then in a different room.

Instantaneously.

There had been no sounds echoing or lights flashing. There'd been no mysterious portal or figure. She hadn't had a fatal accident, or touched any weird things – she had just been staring out her window – not even thinking about anything odd, only watching a couple of sparrows fly about, had blinked once, and then had blinked several times as the image in front of her changed so suddenly, her brain actually had to take a moment to catch itself.

She gasped, then stared, before glancing in panic around the room, eyes open wide in increasing horror.

This was not her room.

At a loss for what to do, she took a deep breath, managing just about to not start screaming, calmly staggered off the bed and gently collasped down onto the floor where she curled up tight in a nice safe empty corner of the room.

' _Okay-okay-okay...Alright-alrighty... O-kay... so, so I'm hallucinating. I am hallucinating. That's something I do now. Okay. Okayokay... and... I'm hallucinating and I'm, I'm about to have a panic attack because this is not okay. Not okay. Breathe breathe. Okay - calm. Calm down. Not real, this is not real - just a illusion... it's not real. You just need to breathe. Breathe through it... or is that for labour? How do you end an hallucination? I need to...'_

Without opening her eyes, Olivia gave the delicate skin of her underarm a vicious pinch, hard enough to bring tears to her eyes. Giving a moment for the pinch to do it's job, Olivia then peeped out from where her head was hid.

The room was still there; still definitively not her room - the walls no longer papered yellow with a warm tone paisley but now a bland cream, a wooden floor instead of a carpet and blinds instead of curtains. If Olivia was inclined to throw shade at room, she would say it looked like a guest room - colours generic and neutral, a door open revealing a small ensuite.  
It was clearly lived in though - books and even scrolls not just in the - stuffed to beyond the point of ridiculous - bookcase, but also spread across the desk, some open as naturally as having just been placed down, the reader mid-sentence across the page. A collection of cups were gathered on the bedside table.

It was all so realistic. Every piece of crockery, the pile of laundry by the other door opposite the ensuite, every crease in the bed sheets, a book on the floor clearly having been knocked off the busy desk, a cactus squatting proudly in a broad flowerpot on the windowsill.

Every detail added ahomely feel to the room, and everything looked so real. Painfully real. Even so, each and every detail was only noticed before swiftly being dismissed. Because, of course – NOT REAL!

Swallowing back a painful lump in her throat, Olivia tried to remain calm.

_'Okay this cannot be happening, this is impossible and, and... I can't panic, I can't, I can't - I don't have time for that, oh God I don't have time for that. I have to be a grown up about this. S-so I'm hallucinating or I'm dreaming or, or something... or... I've...'_

She pinched herself again, just to be sure.

After what could only have been a couple of minutes that somehow seemed to stretch into forever, her situation had of course still not changed and Olivia was still in her corner – now shaking like a leaf - it felt like every muscle in her body was twitching with energy. Not that it mattered; she was too afraid and bewildered to move, her mind yelling a mixture of random theories of what happened, what she should do and how impossible this whole thing was.

_'Let's go over theories... Hallucination... but I've had no prior symptoms - this is very vivid for a first time delusion. Dreaming... but it changed before my eyes. Some sort of gas leak or drugs? But the house is completely electric and I can't even stand in a smoke zone without feeling like I'm going to be sick, let alone go near anything else. This could be the start to a divine test of sorts, but God knows I'd fail one of those. So by process of elimination...'_

She had recognised what she had seen from the window. She'd seen the image before. The image meant that if she really was not hallucinating or dreaming or tripping and if she had not been somehow kidnapped by some really dedicated anime – otaku, or something else she actually believed vaguely possible, then she was in...  
Naruto. She hadn't watched the anime in... it must be three years but it felt like so much longer than that. She'd adored that anime to be truthful. Hell, she'd wanted to be a part of it.  
If Olivia had been less afraid, she might actually have laughed at the idea. Real life was not so amusing.

Whenever Olivia had thought, randomly, on how she would most likely die, she had thought – old age hopefully, perhaps a disease or car-crash, a famine caused by all the bees dying, freezing to death in the nuclear winter caused by the fallout of the ever-approaching Third World War, or slipping and drowning in a three inch puddle – all fairly reasonably guesses. However, it seemed like she was going to be found in the Hidden Leaf Village, with no papers or way to explain how she managed to get in the village without the guards noticing, get tortured and then killed. That had never been on the cards.

Admittedly, she was being incredibly negative about things, which was odd considering she'd always thought herself an optimist – after all, wasn't Konoha supposed to be the goody-two-shoes nation?

Olivia vaguely wondered, as she – now no longer shaking – sat waiting for the ninjas to find and detain her, how she had gotten here in a situation that nearly every Naruto - otaku had at least considered wishing for. The Narutoverse.

(Even she had, when she was at the height of her Naruto addiction, considered it and thought about what she would do.)

If she knew how she got there, she could – maybe – figure a way back home.

But... she had no idea how she had ended up here.

She had not been reading the manga, or watching the anime. She had not taken part in any creepy rituals, or found any random ninja-items in her garden. In fact, the only reason she knew half the things she knew about the Narutoverse, was because one of her friends - Sarah - kept her informed of the latest events. And that's if Sarah was always truthful.

_'I mean really? I can't believe they expected me to believe Tobi was Obito. That's just way too obvi- Am I serious? What am I doing? Fuck, this is not the time to be thinking about that kind of thing! This is serious!'_

If there was any way of her returning home, then sorry but forget saving Naruto from his loneliness, forget messing around with Sakura, forget annoying Sasuke and definitely forget becoming a ninja. She might have dreamed of it once or twice when she was 13 but that was a long time ago.

_'What do I do? What do I do?'_

She could make a run for it – try to escape; but what was the point - where would she go? Plus - they were ninjas, ridiculously fast assassins who had trained their aim since they were at least 8 years old, possibly from an even younger age for those from ninja-families. Running was useless.

She could pretend not to know Japanese…

_'I'm a quarter Japanese descent. I live in England. I have an English accent when I speak English... granted my Japanese usually sounds correct in terms of accent, but if I spoke English, it would be easier for them to believe I couldn't speak Japanese, right? Then there'd be no need to... torture me for information – because they'd think I had no idea what questions they were asking...'_

Pretending she didn't understand them might save her... but maybe not, given the sudden downward turn in her luck, they either would not believe her and check using some technique then kill her for lying, or they would believe her and kill her anyway.

Olivia supposed she may be acting dramatic, but this was one of the 'what else could go wrong moments' after which something even worse happens. She just wanted to be prepared, mentally. Until then, she had only one thing she could do...

_'Guess I'll just stay in this corner then.'_

* * *

_Earlier that week, Hokage's office_

The Sandaime groaned at the three teetering stacks of documents, permits and other 'equally important' papers that seemed to grow before his very eyes. Paperwork: a never-ending cycle of reading, signing and stamping.

He was convinced his secretary was evil; it was she who brought him the cursed loads after all. Maybe he should have Morino-san check her out. Just to be safe...

The old man chuckled at the thought of Ibiki's lackeys dragging the woman away. Unfortunately, his laughs, small though they were, were enough to start a chain-reaction of shaking and shudders, that soon sent the towering papers flying. There was a brief paper-avalanche, and then he groaned once more at the sight of his floor, which was now covered in the documents.

He needed his pipe, and maybe one of Jiraiya's books...

 _'It would seem I am not as young as I used to be.'_ Thought the Hokage as his back began to ache from the continuous movement to pick the papers up. He stood up, using his desk to aid him, and collapsed into his chair. He sighed out of relief, and then looked at a sheet before him.

His relief vanished.

Another request from the Uchiha clan for a meeting. It was the last thing he wanted. They would complain and moan, then flatter themselves, then make a few more complaints and perhaps a few accusations.

The Clan, though a source of great credit to Konoha, had never gotten on amazingly well with the rest of the village, at least as far as he could remember. Their pride and tendency to steal other ninjas (including Leaf-nin) jutsu were the two main reasons. The Kyūbi attack had worsened the situation via Konoha's infamous gossip vine, and had spread distrust and suspicion towards the Uchiha clan. This animosity between the clan and the rest of the village was unfortunately accelerated by the clan's seemingly inbred need to grow more powerful.

The need for power seemed to be growing stronger every day, and whilst he was continuously trying to negotiate peacefully, there did not seem to be any change in attitude. Worse still, the clan had lost faith in Itachi – his main source of information - after Shisui's supposed suicide. The boy had started acting odd – he started missing clan meetings, and when he did attend them, he would argue against the elders. The situation was rapidly reaching the boiling point.

When the Sandaime had last seen Itachi, the stress of knowing his clan was possibly planning a coup d'état had been carved on his otherwise emotionless face. 'A boy so young should not have to shoulder such circumstance. I fear he may pay the largest price of this mess.'

Danzo and his old teammates had also taken a keen interest in the ever deteriorating relations with the Uchiha Clan, Danzo especially so in regards to Itachi. Whilst he considered Danzo a friend and knew he was loyal to Konoha, Danzo was also ironically similar to the Uchiha clan in his desire for power.

 _'But Danzo is loyal to Konoha._ ' Sarutobi only hoped he genuinely believed it, and wasn't just trying to convince himself.

It was the same with his old teammates, the Village elders and Council members, Koharu and Homura. They too aimed for the good of Konoha, but had a much harsher approach to doing so than him. However the differences between Sarutobi's approach and the approaches of Danzo and the elders was usually harmless, maybe occasionally a bit mean or harsh at times, but certainly not evil. Yet with all three taking so much interest in such a delicate case as that of an uneasy and annoyed Uchiha clan, Sarutobi could not help but worry.

The only plus side to their fixation on the Sharingan-using clan was that they seemed to have lost interest in Naruto.

Aah – Naruto. Already 7 years old and starting his 1st year of shinobi training at the academy – how time flies. It seemed like only yesterday Naruto had been four and just beginning his civilian education; taking his first steps in learning how to read, write, do basic arithmetic and so on.

Since then he had also taking his first steps (plus a hundred more) into becoming a complete prankster menace. His latest prank had been on a couple of Chūnin. When he was eventually caught and brought to him, he had asked the blonde child why he would prank two of the ninja who helped protect the village. Naruto had smiled innocently and said the day before his sensei had told them to practice their trap-making skills. Naruto had also added under his breath that it seemed only fair as those two chūnin often used him for target practice.

On the one hand, Naruto had received no injuries (thankfully) so it seemed more likely the ninja in question had just been trying to scare him. On the other hand...the two chūnin were now on a three-year undercover mission in the land of snow. Not that he told Naruto.

He also did not tell Naruto that if he had managed to prank two seasoned chūnin using academy level trap-skills, then either his chūnin were getting lax in their training or Naruto was pretty darn good at making traps.

Even if said traps involved fluorescent pink glue and lime green feathers... and several pounds of glitter. If only Naruto paid such effort to his class work, or made less expensive pranks. Then the boy could buy food other than instant ramen.

The Hokage had now managed to put all the papers into several messy piles. Sitting in his chair, pipe in mouth, he looked at another sheet. It was a document, on a civilian child, Koharuno Kumiko. Scanning the sheet, he noted key information. She had been orphaned a few months ago but the funeral had only taken place in the last few days. The child had also been put under the guardianship of friends of her late-father, with whom she was also distantly related. The family – the Harunos - were concerned as, after the funeral, she had retreated to her new room in the household, and had refused to come out or to talk to anyone. The family had tried everything to get a response from the child, to no avail and were getting increasingly worried, as the child had barely eaten anything for several days and still wasn't talking.

The document requested a med-nin be sent to the house to check on Kumiko - as the girl attended the academy, it meant she was eligible for free healthcare and advice. A reasonable request he supposed, and signed the document before putting it to the side. _'One paper down, one hundred more to go..._ '

* * *

Meeting the White Rabbit

_Wednesday, 4th January, Konoha's civilian district - following the events previously described_

After what Olivia would have guessed was an hour and a half of finding herself in an anime-verse, Olivia heard a small knock and a voice come from the unopened door.

"Kumiko-chan? Are you awake? You have some visitors." After a short pause, a murmured conversation started up outside the door, too quiet and hushed to understand.

A half-second was all the extra time Olivia needed to comprehend the message; her frequent visits to Japan to visit her maternal grandparents and regular correspondence with her overseas cousins meaning her second tongue was not too significantly less practiced than her English tongue.

The message, once understood, was quickly responded to in quiet panic.

Olivia leapt from her seated position whilst she looked around startled for somewhere to hide, and then stumbled as something became clear to her. Not only did she have some serious pins and needles, but she must have been really distracted by the shock of the situation, as now Olivia realised something that she really, really should have noticed earlier.

She was about two feet shorter.

Yeah - two feet shorter.

 _'What the...'_ Olivia glanced in the mirror by the wardrobe whilst hearing the door to her room slowly begin to glide open. Leaning to the left so she could have a better look at her reflection, her jaw went slack. Instead of a medium height teenager nearing adulthood, there was a short girl facing her, who couldn't be any more than 10. Even her clothes were different, her panic from earlier clearly having been enough to miss a complete wardrobe change.

' _Wha... but how... I'm... that's not... this can't. This is not my body! I don't understand... oh... no no no! But what else could it be? Okay, okay, okay - just calm down, think - just think as calmly as you can.'_

Olivia took a deep breath and concluded upon the most 'rational' possibility. She was in the body of 'Kumiko'. It was ridiculous – possessing another person's body, but at this point in such an extraordinary day, Olivia really had to just roll with it. Not that there was any other choice because…

Olivia tore her eyes away from the mirror to look at the opened doorway and the two women now visible beyond it, one wearing a white cheongsam with three red circles on it and the other a white lab coat over simple clothes. The woman in the dress looked at her cautiously, whilst wearing a small but rather forced looking smile.

"Hello dear – This is Akiko-sensei. She is a med-nin. Akiko-sensei is here to give you a quick check up; just to check you're ok, alright? I've got to get started on dinner but Sakura will keep you company." She stepped aside to reveal a small girl previously hidden behind her, "Sakura has also made some dango for you. I know you haven't felt hungry recently, but Sakura made these all on her own and would really appreciate you trying one of them."

"Hai. Hello Akiki-sensei. Thank you Sakura-san" Olivia managed to squeak out, feeling vaguely pleased in a small part of her brain for pronouncing it all correctly.

For a moment, the lady looked shocked - as if her ability to talk was an astonishing ability - then nodded in an almost confused manner, before glancing at the other woman. A conversation told only in eye-contact clearly happened between the two of them; though Olivia couldn't guess for love nor money what was being said, only that her speaking had triggered it. She should have just pretended to have forgotten Japanese.

Akiko walked further into the room, quickly followed by Sakura who sat on the edge of the bed, clutching a plate of dango. The other woman smiled again. "Well – I'll be downstairs if you need anything." Olivia watched the door shut then turned to look at her two 'guests'. She was very confused, and more than a little shocked at seeing a very young, very pink Sakura sitting in front of her. Why was Olivia in the house of the Haruno family?

Olivia put her arms around her chest and started looking expectantly at the woman called Akiko. She in turn looked at her, then pulled a chair from the desk and sat on it, turning it so she faced Olivia, eyes level to her own.

Being stared at wasn't the oddest thing that had happened to Olivia in her life, and certainly not on a day like today. But that didn't make it any more comfortable.

"...what?"

Akiko blinked then frowned. Olivia coughed awkwardly, before repeating in Japanese this time.

"What?"

Akiko seemed to consider this response for a moment.

"Do you know why I was asked to come, Kumiko-chan?" said Akiko warmly. Olivia shook her head. She had no idea – about anything that was going on. "They're worried about you – you took your parents' death very hard – which is of course understandable."

For a horrible split second, Olivia thought Akiko was referring to Olivia's parents. She then felt guilty about how relieved she was to know Akiko had been referring to this Kumiko-kids's parents instead. With the swirling emotions already storming inside her, these extra feelings were enough to make her feel physically sick.

Akiko, oblivious to Olivia's nausea, had not finished talking, in what was undoubtedly the most grating, most patronising of voices.

"Being upset is natural, but you must remember to look after yourself; Haruno-san has told me you've barely eaten anything since the funeral. It's not healthy – especially for a growing girl like you." Akiko paused, and didn't continue until Olivia gave a small nod.

"Haruno-san also told me you're in the academy. Gonna become a brave kunoichi, aren't you?"

Another nod, this time with trepidation. Kunoichi. Oh no.

"Hm, you're nine, so that would mean you only have… three years left at the academy, correct?"

Olivia nodded, but had no idea if it was correct or not. 'For a ninja, this woman gives away a lot of free info. Well – thanks for expo.'

"Well then – you know about chakra; it keeps you alive. You get it from eating food and mixing the physical energy you get from food with spiritual energy from your soul; so when you don't eat enough, you make less chakra, which is very bad." Akiko nodded with each overly pronounced word, and had situations been any different, Olivia would have been infuriated. As it was, Olivia could barely summon a trace of annoyance strong enough to be felt above the torment of other more potent emotions.

Like fear.  
No, not fear – stronger than that.  
Kunoichi. She was, this body was… in training to become a kunoichi. Life on the line. Child solider. Ninja.  
It was okay when it was just a tv show. It wasn't real. They weren't real children.  
Olivia felt pretty real and..  
Ah – that was it. Not fear.  
She felt horror.

Blissfully unaware of beating Olivia's mental state had just taken, Akiko stood up and smiled in a manner meant to be reassuring. "Now, I'm going to check your vitals and chakra. It won't hurt at all, you probably won't even feel it – so no need to worry." She smiled again.

Akiko swiftly checked her heart rate using a stethoscope that had been in one of her coat pockets. Olivia knew her racing heart was no doubt put down to being nervous about talking to a stranger rather than the more elaborate reason of reacting to instantaneous trans-dimensional travel. Akiko still gave a tiny frown though as she listened to her stethoscope.

Then she measured her height and weight – the latter requiring a trip to the ensuite to use the scales.

Standing next to Akiko was an uncomfortable feeling. As an adult woman, Akiko was so much bigger than nine year old Kumiko, but mentally Olivia was still 5 ft 6 so it was as if she were standing next to someone 7 to 8 ft tall, who was also much broader. Olivia felt very, very small.

These were not, oddly enough, very helpful thoughts to be having, and Olivia soon started feeling panic rising again in her chest. Desperately she distracted herself by considering the room. ' _Classic guest room. But new – same as the ensuite. I can smell the new paint. I don't remember Sakura's family having much screentime in the series, especially this early on. So I don't have much comparison but later on in the series we would have at least had mention of a close-in-age relative of Sakura. Which didn't happen in the series… I'm pretty sure. So.. so this is different. Already. But only recently different. They… added on this bedroom and ensuite onto their house. So Kumiko could live here. Recently, hence the smell of paint. Different… or just not mentioned because it wasn't relevant?'_

"Okay – that's all good. You're a little light so make sure you eat your dinner, and try to have some of that dango too. Now your chakra." Akiko reached towards Olivia's sternum, whilst Olivia herself started worrying.

_'Do I even have chakra? What will they do when they realise I don't have any chakra– will they realise I'm not Kumiko? Or do I have Kumiko's chakra now?'_

Akiko placed her right hand squarely on Olivia's chest and smiled – yet again – at Olivia, who gazed in amazement as Akiko's hand glowed.  
…

"What the..."

Olivia glanced up upon hearing those words and saw that Akiko's smile had fallen and been replaced by a puzzled frown. She moved her hand around Olivia's torso, then along her arms and legs, before placing it on Olivia's head, her expression growing more and more befuddled as time went by.

' _Or maybe I just bought whatever chakra I had in my own body? Maybe? That was a belief at home – hence chakra is a thing here; because of the theory of chakra in my world. But from the look on Akiko-sensei's face, something isn't right._ ' She glanced over at Sakura, who had plucked a book from the bookshelf and was flicking through it. 'If she compares my chakra with Sakura's, are Kumiko and Sakura closely related enough that sensing my chakra instead would reveal my presence as a… possession of Kumiko?'

Akiko must have seen worry on Olivia's face, as she had schooled her expression into another smile by the time Olivia had stopped looking at Sakura. "Okay, well – that's it. I'll leave you to talk to your erm... what was it – third cousin? Fourth? Well – goodbye Kumiko-san. I need to discuss something with Haruno-san. I will see you soon." She bobbed a polite bow Olivia barely had time to return before quickly leaving Olivia and Sakura alone in the room.

 _'Well… that was telling. And not good. She definitely noticed something. Shit._ ' Olivia could just about hear Akiko-sensei talking downstairs to someone, probably Sakura's mum. She was talking quickly… but not desperately urgently or panicked. ' _Did she realise I don't have chakra? No... She would have freaked out if I had none.'_

Olivia glanced at Sakura again – who now looked completely absorbed in her book. She didn't look like she'd even noticed Akiko leaving.

 _'… what did Akiko say about Sakura? My third cousin? We're related? Fuck really... and I mean really? Really - as if ending up in an anime wasn't enough, I'm also now related to one of the main characters. This is unbelievable - I'm in an anime, I'm eight years younger and I'm related to a main character. Oh shit… I'm a… I'm a self-insert. An original character. But I didn't write this! Shit. What else? I'm… I'm in the academy. Great, brilliant, fan-flipping-tastic. Anything else? Why not give me some random, over-the-top, ridiculous bloodline and complete this mess?_ _Fuck!'_

Pulling herself from her mental rant before she could panic herself into throwing up, Olivia turned to face Sakura fully, who had now stopped reading and was stood holding the plate of dango again, looking just as awkward as Olivia felt.

Sakura was smaller than Olivia was, well smaller than Kumiko, by about half a foot. She had her pink hair – which looked astonishingly less odd in person than you might expect – short with a long fringe covering her forehead. Olivia guessed she hadn't met Ino yet. She opened her mouth to say something to break the silence, but Sakura beat her to it.

"I made these for you. I hope you like them and feel better." She said, staring at the dango. She had spoken so quickly and so quietly, Olivia had struggled to understand her, but she eventually got the meaning and nodded.

"Thank you, err – Sakura-san." Olivia uneasily put a smile upon her lips, and tried to appear grateful – she was feeling many things – like shock, fear and nausea – but hunger was not really one of them. Sakura looked intently at her strange relative for a moment, and then shyly giggled.

"You're so silly itoko-chan."

Olivia blinked at the use of the word itoko (cousin). ' _Right, distantly related but close enough to be considered family.'_

"Huh?"

"I mean, Kumiko-chan doesn't need to be so formal."

"Oh – I uh, ok – Sakura... –chan?"

' _Great. Suffixes._ '

"Aa." Sakura gave a smile, and then offered her a stick of dango. Olivia politely accepted it. "Thank you Sakura-chan." Olivia paused, hoping Sakura would come up with a conversation topic, or better yet just leave the room entirely.

After a few awkward starts, Sakura got more and more content to just talk at Olivia - especially after her first bite of dango awoke Olivia's appetite within vengeance. She felt like she hadn't eaten in days!

Sakura talked about the academy mostly, and at one point suddenly changed topics when she - Olivia recognised - almost mentioned being bullied. Olivia didn't press it – Ino would sort things out eventually.

' _Does that make me a bad person? I know she'll be okay – and soon too.'_

As Sakura gradually became more confident and animated with her speech, switching from topic to topic nearly faster than Olivia could keep up with, she also became less guarded with what she was saying.

"Ooh - I remember I really wanted to ask you what Suna was like! I'm so jealous that you got to go there with your parents even if it was just to trade spices. You're so lucky! I me-" Sakura froze then visibly cringed. Olivia herself was a little shocked too.

' _Did Sakura just tell me how lucky I was that my recently deceased parents took me to Suna? Wow – and I thought I was awkward as a child!'_

Sakura seemed to reboot and frantically bowed in apology.

"Ah, no sorry sorry sorry!"

Olivia told her not to worry about it and a heavy, tense moment of silence passed over them, Olivia did not particularly mind the silence, but Sakura seemed determined to fill it up with talking.

"Um... It's sad that you couldn't take the early exam - you know you would have passed it. Now you have to wait at least a year to become a kunoichi. unless you've decided to wait until you're twelve… I heard a sensei say it was a shame." The way her voice got quieter and quieter told Olivia the exact reason why Kumiko had ended up not taking the early exam. Thank God for parents dying. The only thing worse than becoming an academy student would be becoming a ninja immediately.

_'But also, shit! Not just an academy student, but this kid sounds really gifted too! I'm going to raise so much suspicion!'_

"Yeah - it's... it's a shame..."

"I mean it! I'm sure you would have passed last time."

"Err thank you Sakura-chan."

For all Sakura's enthusiasm or perhaps because of it, Olivia found the conversation very difficult. It was, thankfully, not without end.

"Well, I'll take this plate to the kitchen. You want to come?" Sakura walked to the door, holding the now empty plate.

"No, thank you, but I would like to be alone for a while now, please." Olivia hoped that didn't sound as rude as it did in her head.

Sakura nodded and went. Olivia sat on the bed, deep in thought. Kumiko attended the academy. She was reasonably good, even enough to be considered eligible for early graduation – which made pretending to be Kumiko trickier, and also meant either the Uchiha massacre hadn't happened yet or it did happen and that was why she couldn't graduate early. ' _When did the massacre happen again? When Sasuke turned 8?'_

Olivia put her head in her hands.

 _'I don't want to be a ninja, and they'll know something's up if I, well if Kumiko suddenly doesn't have any skills or knowledge at all. I could tell them I've changed my mind or something – they'll probably assume it's due to my parents' death. Yeah – that's what I'll do, and if they don't believe me... well they can't force me to become a ninja_.' Absent-mindedly nodding, Olivia closed her eyes and tried to calm her turbulent mind.

Tried and failed.

' _Why is this happening to me? What did I ever do to deserve this?'_ She thought, before giving in to quiet sobbing.

* * *

Queen of Hearts

_Wednesday, 4th January, Konoha Hospital_

"I've never seen anything like it… I sensed that the girl had low chakra levels as soon as I entered the room, but when I started scanning…" Akiko paused again and shook her head, trying to collect her thoughts. Though she had tried not to let it show at the Haruno House, the experience had left her quite shaken. The girl should be in a coma, if not dead!

"She had the tiniest amount of chakra – barely even present; as if the only chakra she had in her body came not from her, but from only the surrounding environment – like breathing in the chakra-dense air of the village."

Her superior's eyebrows rose. He had expected a simple report, not this revelation. "How would you explain this… odd occurrence Akiko-sensei? She is making chakra, correct?"

The medic frowned, and then replied uneasily, not quite sure of what she said.

"She is making chakra, but very slowly – which can be explained by the child refusing to eat. The lack of chakra stored is the strange part. I suppose a genetic defect could have caused it, or something along those lines. The Koharunos, and indeed the Harunos, are civilian families, and have naturally low chakra reserves in the first place. Otherwise I would suggest the child had been practising ninjutsu or accidentally using chakra without intent – like the Inuzaka clan. But not in this case. Not from a civilian family. I would say… the stress of the past few weeks, her lack of appetite and a possible genetic defect as combined factors would explain the situation. If the child starts eating again she should get better – we will have to monitor this over time. The child was talking now though – which either suggests she is getting through the grieving process, or her guardians exaggerated her muteness." Akiko shrugged – either option was possible.

Her superior nodded – agreeing with the explanation and advised Akiko organise another appointment soon to continue checking the child's chakra levels.

* * *

_Wednesday, 4th January, Konoha's civilian district - following the events previously described_

Olivia was sat on her bed, deep in thought - now much calmer after finishing crying.

She tentatively walked to the mirror, her abrupt height change still causing her some difficultly, especially as she was now so aware of it.  
In some ways, she looked very similar to how she had when she was younger – startlingly so if you considered the chance of accidentally body swapping with someone who could pass for your younger twin.

The shape of her eyes, nose and jaw, plus general build were all nearly identical to those of a nine year old Olivia, from what she could recall. There were only a few significant differences. Olivia's bright grey-blue eyes, very dark hair and faintly tanned skin had been displaced by dark mossy green eyes, lighter, reddish-brown hair and light olive skin. Colouring-wise, Olivia thought she now looked like a duller version of Sakura.

Olivia's new hands felt a little less soft, skin already used to a more practical, physically demanding lifestyle compared to Olivia's gentle academic upbringing. Unsurprisingly, Kumiko also had better muscle development than Olivia's body; Kumiko was small and delicately built with thin joints, but her muscles were toned and Olivia could recognise the strength in her limbs.

Well, mostly.

A sudden front of lightheadedness meant she had to put her head between her knees.

Her situation was not something you could just get used.

' _Deep breaths. In. Out. In - oh no!'_ Olivia ran to the toilet and quickly threw up the dango, before slumping down next to the basin, looking as pathetic as she felt and sniveling quietly.

* * *

**Gurgle Gurgle** – and now she was hungry again. Olivia sighed and considered her options.

' _Just eat something. You can't solve anything or fix anything now, but you can eat something. Something small – this nine year old's body shouldn't suffer because you've gotten stuck in it. Nine year old children need food._ ' Standing up shakily, she flushed the toilet and brushed her teeth.

Then she was stood at the door to the landing. Sakura had shut the door behind her. Olivia stepped towards it, and then took two steps back before again taking a step forward.

'S _top acting like such a coward! You're in a civilian house. You're hungry. There is no reason for you not to go downstairs right now and ask for some food. Didn't they say they were making dinner? You didn't end up in Oliver Twist. They'll give you food if you ask for some – Akiko-sensei said Kumiko hasn't eaten properly for days; they'll be happy to feed you.'_

Olivia slowly took a step towards the door, but the sudden creak of the wood beneath her tiny foot made her freeze. She gulped. It was a silly thing to get caught up in, but it felt like the second she left this room, it would be like she had accepted her new life. Agreed to play along. Pressed start and finished the tutorial. Game on.

' _No other options, you're just gonna keep crying and throwing up if you stay in here. Come on - out the door we go_.' She took a deep breath, held it and slid open the door. She quickly found the stairs but half way down forgot her legs were significantly shorter now, which resulted in her falling down the stairs, arms floundering about uselessly, breath leaving her lungs in a squeal.

Dazed, Olivia watched from her spot on the floor as Sakura and her mother ran in from, what looked like from Olivia's worm's eye view, the kitchen.

"Kumiko-chan? Are you alright? What happened?"

"Err… I'm good. I fell down the stairs!"

' _Obviously_.'

Sakura giggled and Olivia flushed faintly, before blushing fully when her stomach let out another very loud gurgle.

Both Sakura and her mother giggled this time before Sakura's mum carefully pulled Olivia back on to her feet. "Are you going to eat dinner with us?"

She lightly stroked Olivia's forehead, moving a few strands of hair out the way. As Olivia nodded to the idea of food, the woman noticed a bruise forming on her forehead.

"Oh – you poor dear! You hurt your head. Let me kiss it better."

'Bleugh.' Barely resisting the urge to flinch away from the affections of a complete stranger, Olivia mumbled. "Aa, thank you but I am fine. Very fine." She inwardly cringed at her sentence structure. She hadn't spoken this much Japanese in months, and never when so stressed. Japanese was for holidays on her Oji and Obaachan's farm, not… not this! Focusing, Olivia continued. "It doesn't even hurt Haruno-san."

Mebuki twisted her mouth. "Mebuki-obasan, Kumiko-chan, or just Obasan."

' _You really, really aren't my obasan.'_

"Aa, Mebuki-obasan."

* * *

_Wednesday, 4th January, dinnertime, Konoha's civilian district - following the events previously described_

"Sakura, do you have all your stuff ready for the academy tomorrow – did you finish your homework?" asked Mebuki in a no-nonsense tone as Sakura and Olivia finished eating. Olivia had barely managed half of what was already a small portion.

"Yeah – it was easy; I had to write a paragraph on hand signs." Mebuki nodded, and then turned to Olivia, yet again smiling a little too forcefully.

"Kumiko-chan – Akiko-sensei has advised you attend the academy tomorrow. She works part time there as the academy-nurse so will be able to keep an eye on you. We need to encourage your body to make chakra normally – staying in your room stagnating is not going to help. Do you understand?"

Olivia shuffled her feet and looked at them. "I don't want to be a ninja anymore."

"Huh?" Sakura stared at her cousin confused – had not they just spoken about how good Kumiko was at the academy? Even Mebuki looked surprised, her mouth was twisted again, and she looked at her daughter with a light frown.

"Sakura-chan, I need to talk to Kumiko-chan for a second. Please go to your room – there's the rest of your dango on the side; why don't you take another and eat it in your room?"  
Sakura nodded and quickly left.

"Kumiko-chan… your… your parents did explain to you the er, situation correct? About you becoming a ninja?"

' _What_.' Olivia shook her head. This didn't sound good.

"Oh really? Okay – well. As you know, your parents moved to the village at the same time as the Kyuubi attack occurred . Because resources and homes were in high demand, concessions were made for certain… agreements. Such as priotising families of shinobi… including civilian families whose children were shinobi, in the academy… or whose parents had agreed would join the academy when they were old enough."

The words were spoken calmly and gently, but they might as well have been yelled to Olivia's face.

' _Fuck_.'

"Do you understand , Kumiko-chan?"

"I… have no choice? What if I just don't go?"

Mebuki cringed and weighed her response carefully. "Technically, they could insist you leave the village. But I don't understand what the fuss is about – you're not expected to rise in the ranks, nor is it for life. Graduate, be an active shinobi for – I think it's 10 years – take a mission once a week, you only need take D-ranks and C-ranks, maybe an occassional B-rank. Within those 10 years you could join a department like the Paperwork nins, save up your money, and then by the time you are twenty two you can join the reserves and get a different job. See – not so scary. No one is expecting much from a civilian born; just their basic duty. You aren't expected to save Konoha or change the world. Just do your bit"

Olivia would grant Mebuki – that speech did settle much of her nerves. Of course it would work better if Olivia hadn't already known that war was imminent and regardless of her status as active or reserve, she would be called upon. To fight. An army. Powered by a bitchy Goddess. ' _Fuck no Fuck no. Unless_ …' Olivia thought for a moment and Mebuki seemed lost in her own thoughts (perhaps considering the words about duty she had just spoken to a nine year old).

' _I could just fail either the academy one or the jounin specific test, like Kakashi's bell test? Show myself incapable of teamwork. Oh… this is all based on me being good enough to pass anyway. Kumiko may have been gifted, but I'm not_.'

"Okay Mebuki-obasan. I'm going to look over some stuff ready for tomorrow."

Mebuki smiled and nodded. "There we go. I was wondering where Kumiko-chan was. You were never afraid of anything, it seemed. Off you go."

Olivia returned to her room, considering Mebuki's final words. Where was Kumiko?

' _Probably back... in... my world... FUCK – I completely, I didn't, it didn't... what if Kumiko of this world is in my world... in my body... not knowing English at all...'_

 _"Shit."_ Olivia mumbled under her breath as she entered her room.

* * *

Once the door was shut, Olivia flew to the bookcase and grabbed anything that looked vaguely ninja-related or was a scroll and dumping them on her bed. She soon did the same with the desk, though a glance back revealed she had missed a book on the floor.

' _Okay – don't think about Kumiko in your body. Don't even touch that. Right… we've already raised attention due to our low chakra (and Kumiko's behaviour prior to our presence…) so an immediate lowering in skill might get more attention and we can not even risk the suggestion of a Yamanaka looking at our head. So, get by at school as similarly to Kumiko did previously as we can manage, hopefully fail at graduating, then figure out how the hell to get home. We could look into… Meditation? We could find a shrine? Something spiritual as it's our spirits that have been displaced…_ '

She looked at her western style bed, now covered with scrolls and books. There were a lot of them. ' _First things first. How are we going to approach this?'_

A quick flick through comforted her enough to put any books on mathematics or science back. Her own education and logic-skills should be enough to get by easily in those subjects. She was good at school. It was going to be the ninja-specific sections she needed to focus on.

_'The Shinobi rules. Any specific history especially based on actual dates. Anything common knowledge regarding native plants, landscapes, distinctive builings?'_

It was 5pm and she had until 8am to cram as much ninja-related knowledge as possible into her head. 15 hours never sounded so small an amount of time.

' _Ok - what do we have here?'_ She picked up the first book she saw. ' _Aa.. of course. Kanji. Of course_.'

Resigning herself to a long night, she got started. An hour in and she was sending prayers, thanking her Oji for insisting she spent part of each summer totally immersed in her second language. Olivia was also beyond grateful for a Kanji dictionary found in her bedside table drawer, tattered tghough it was.

' _Did this Kumiko kid actually read a dictionary before bed? Wow. No – bad Olivia, don't judge the poor orphaned child solider trainee_.'

Olivia didn't look closely but it looked like Kumiko had written notes on different Kanji?

' _Heh. Nerd.'_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is also posted on Fanfiction.net as the new Chapter 1 on my original posting of this fic. Same name, same title. As I continue to rewrite that story I will post the chapters here and on ffn.net  
> I'd love to know what you think!


	2. Ring of Roses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Olivia attends her first day at the Academy. Many new faces, a couple to recognise and a jutsu (!)  
> It goes... about as well as you expect really.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For my brothers - who have to listen to me re-read sections again and again when I edited this chapter

**Chapter 2: Ring of Roses**

* * *

As we fall down   
_Thursday 5th January, early morning – Streets of Konoha, enroute to the Shinobi Academy_

Olivia slowly trudged after Sakura through the busy, bustling streets of Konoha – tense, desperately unhappy and surprisingly... scared? She hadn't quite figured out the last part yet. She was also feeling the effects of a very late, if productive night.

She had managed to cram a lot of information given the time restraints, and Mebuki had been happy to leave her be for the duration of the evening so she didn't have to worry about whatever 'bedtime' she may or may not have had.

Sleep came, with surprising difficulty, in the early hours of the morning. She doubted she got much more than two hours, and that sleep was full of stressful dreams with missile-armed shinobi, blistering heat and freezing chills. From what snippets Olivia could recall, she was pleased she didn't remember more. Though clearly the result of a stressed sleeper, they were unsettling and Olivia had other problems to deal with.

Despite her sorry excuse for a night's sleep, she had woken up happy. Initially keeping her eyes tightly closed and ready (and hoping and praying) to open them to her bedroom with all of yesterday having been a crazy dream. More than ready to spend a year reminiscing about that one dream in which Olivia was turned into a walking cliché of a self-insert.

Alas.

The second day in this new universe was worse than before. More definite. Her situation more permanent. Olivia considered herself mature for her age as she had only emotionally broken down twice that morning.  
Currently, Olivia felt like she was about to make it thrice, and for good reason too. Everywhere she looked, there were parents and children – surely there on the streets for the sole intent to torment her. Mothers holding onto bickering sons, fathers giving piggybacks to bubbly daughters. As Olivia continued down the street – pulled along by Sakura's tiny hand holding firmly on to her (still not used to how much smaller) hand – she was too caught up in her envious thoughts to even attempt learning the route.

They were awful thoughts but Olivia couldn't help but wonder why all these children got their parents, whilst she couldn't have hers. What did they do to deserve that love and comfort? What did Olivia do to earn this punishment? It wasn't fair.

An even worse thought flashed in her mind. ' _Well it's not like any of these people are real. They're just background characters. If this was a game, they would be nothing but a sea of NPCs, maybe not even named. Those aren't real children. Those aren't real parents. And Koharuno Kumiko isn't a real child and better not be at home in my body with my parents!_ '

Rational though the thoughts were, Olivia still felt guilty and it was enough to make her eyes sting, followed by nausea at the mere possibility of Kumiko possessing Olivia's body.

…She took a painful breath and held it, one that forcible suppressed her guilty tears and fearful nausea, and again steeled herself for the upcoming day.

' _Keep moving forward. What can you do right now? I can't work on a way home yet. I can't work on a way back to my body yet. I can't get out of becoming a Kunoichi yet. I can go to the academy as a student. I can get through the day. I can use Kumiko's situation to excuse any changes between her work and personality, and my own. I can do this. I can do this_.' Those words were her safety net against the storm of emotional upheaval that kept coming back like a bad cold.

Olivia recognised she might have been feeling a lot of what the orphaned Kumiko's body was feeling, or that her brain as physical organ was now a child's and she might therefore be limited in her emotional maturity. Of course, knowing those possibilities did not lead Olivia to accept her emotional situation any more willingly. Who wants to be stuck in a state where every challenge or inconvenience was responded to with tears?

She was scared too. More than she could give logical reason for. Olivia was nervous about living amongst trained assassins, but since walking around in the open streets of Konoha, Olivia hadn't been able to calm her heart rate and had to consciously control her breathing rate.

This was not helped by her other thoughts – useful things like ' _What if there was no way back?'_ – that only further quickened her heart rate and made her breath shallow and swift to the point that Sakura was giving her concerned looks as inconspicuously as a pink haired seven year old could be.

Like mentioned before, denial and determination were her current coping methods. She refused to accept there was no way back. She had to refuse it and she didn't have time to cry about it. She needed to find her feet in this world. She had to. The sooner she did that, the sooner she could start planning on how to return home. She could do it – small step by small step.

' _After all, if people can control the elements here, then sending me back home shouldn't be too impossible_.' A tiny ray of hope blossomed in her chest as she remembered all the kinds of jutsu she knew existed or would be created in this world, and for a moment she felt a little better.

However, when Olivia saw they had arrived at the academy, the feeling rotted and died.

"Oh..." Olivia's surprise was lost as she took in the sight before her – there were nearly a hundred children in front of her, most of which were accompanied by at least one adult. It was so loud it overwhelmed her senses, and again Olivia was surprised at how scared she felt. Nerves made sense but Olivia really did feel like she was walking towards the gallows.

"Are you ok?" A hand touched her shoulder as she heard a small voice beside her. Opening eyes she did not recall closing, she turned to look at Sakura – who was looking worriedly at her relative.

"Yes... Thanks." Olivia offered a small smile. "How are you?"

"I'm good – I-" Sakura trailed off as something caught her eye behind Olivia. Turning around she noticed a few girls smirking and sneering at her – or more likely she realised – at Sakura. Olivia watched Sakura's face – a tiny seven-year-old; when was the last time she had even spoken to a seven-year-old – crumple and her open, friendly face shutter. Sakura seemed to visibly deflate and her arms came up to defensively hold herself around the middle.

The girls looked around eleven/twelve. For a seven-year-old kid, they must have seemed quite intimidating. However, Olivia was not seven and she really was not in the mood to humour bullies. She never had been. She still wasn't planning on intervening with Sakura's situation, but if they came over...

Olivia couldn't help but sneer at the girls as they strutted over. They were taller than Kumiko, but Olivia was sure even when they were fully grown, they still wouldn't match Olivia's height.

The three girls clearly hadn't noticed Olivia's presence until one of them tried to square up to tiny Sakura, and Olivia (internally sighing and cursing her morals and that she had arrived before Ino had solved the issue) stood between them.

Tilting her head up and jutting her chin, Olivia looked squarely in the girl's eyes. She wasn't sure what expression was on her face. Distain? Defiance? Total apathy?

The girl looked a bit shocked, and then glanced back at her posse before smirking and turning back at Olivia.

"Ooo-ooh. Look – another giant foreheaded freak. You should go to the doctors about that – that kind of deformity clearly needs medical help." Olivia's total lack of emotional investment in this random background character's existence, and refusal to acknowledge said person as real, meant her response came quick and sharp, unheeded by hurt feelings.

"Yeah I did. They did a few tests. Turns out I have a brain behind it. Explains why your foreheads are so small." There was a pause, then Sakura giggled.

All three faces flushed in anger and it did cross Olivia's mind to be wary of their retaliation; or rather if they decided to retaliate physically. Three against two wasn't fair as it was, but those three had also nearly completed their ninja training whilst both Olivia and Sakura were smaller in size and less trained. Plus, Olivia wasn't going to let any of their attacks near a seven-year-old. Sakura probably still had some of her baby teeth.

As it was, they were saved by the bell. The sea of children started funnelling in to the academy, and Sakura and Olivia soon lost sight of the others girls. Looking back at Sakura, who in turn was looking delightedly back at Olivia already, Olivia smiled but wondered why Kumiko hadn't helped her little cousin before? Were they not close? Or was this proof that Kumiko hadn't existed in the original series? Or had died before this point in the series – maybe with her parents?

"They aren't worth your time." Olivia finally commented.

It sounded pretty cool in her head, though maybe not quite as punchy when said in Japanese. Nonetheless, it seemed to get the message across because Sakura's eyes minutely widened as she listened to her words, before shaking her head.

"It's not that easy-" That was a fair point. All well and good for Olivia to make quips as a seventeen-year-old with no stake in the situation.

"I know. But just..." She sighed. Sakura was going to be so annoying in a few years time. She'd throw away her friendship with Ino for Sasuke – who she hadn't ever spoken to before at that stage. But Olivia had watched Sakura progress and despite the series' difficulties with writing female characters, there had been moments when Sakura had actually seemed really cool. Like in the Forest of Death with that Sound kunoichi. Annoying but strong and kinda cool at times. And that was just pre-time skip. "Fuck them – okay? They don't matter. You're better than them. You're gonna achieve more before you're seventeen than they will by the time they're seventy. Combined."

One – one – nice thing about this situation was she could make these insane comments entirely confident that she was correct. Olivia felt like an oracle offering her prophecies and wisdom to a hero at the beginning of their destined journey.

Unfortunately, the second bell rang before Olivia could fully appreciate the shocked look on Sakura's face.

Twice as unfortunately, Sakura ran off with the sound of the bell with a shout of "Gonna be late!"

Olivia watched helplessly as Sakura darted inside the Academy. _'I... have no idea where Kumiko's classroom is.'_

Olivia considered her options. ' _Keep moving forward. I'll let help come to me; the academy staff will want all their students to be in the correct rooms. I just have to find somewhere for a helpful adult to find me. If they ask me questions regarding where my class is... bring up Kumiko's dead parents. Whoa that was kind of brutal.'_

Slowly walking into the academy, tripping slightly as she misjudged the height of a step, she followed a path at random and then crouched down and waited. Arms wrapped around her knees – her new go-to position so it seemed – and face glum with bags under her eyes. Perfect, pathetic orphan. Heh - Savage.

After about twenty minutes, a ninja walked down the hallway looking intently at some paperwork. He was wearing the blue and green ninja-garb, including a headband. He also looked very familiar – she knew she had seen that scar across his nose before. ' _Iruka! Better than perfect._ '

As she quickly made herself look as sad and pitiful as she could, he finally noticed her.

"Hey, what are you doing out here – shouldn't you be in class?"

Olivia nodded and gazed at him. He looked so young. He had definitely been an adult, twenty-two, at the start of the anime, but the art style had failed to show how young he was even then. Seeing him now, in flesh, about five years before that; he couldn't have even turned eighteen yet. Olivia was sure he wasn't a teacher yet but instead still an active shinobi.

Which was weird to consider. That this man, probably the same age as Olivia was in reality – maybe down to a matter of days difference in age, was a shinobi who would have went on missions, came home, got paid. Seen people – comrades, enemies, strangers – die. Nearly been killed. Have had to dodge and defend. Have attacked and struck. Rinse and repeat.

_'I wonder how many people he has killed? Does he even know – is that something ninja keep track of?'_

"Then why aren't you in class?" Iruka interrupted her morbid internal questioning.

 _'When acting or lying, use small truths._ ' She shrugged. "I miss my mum."

"Didn't you just say goodbye to her at the gates? You don't look like a First year. You must be used to the academy day by now."

In a small, gloomy voice, Olivia answered. "No. She wasn't at the gate. Mum or dad. I'm never going to..." She choked on the sentence. Far too similar to her actual fears to give voice to. As it happened, Iruka started making some assumptions. Maybe most villagers were used to reading between these kinds of lines. Maybe Iruka had done similarly, or had seen classmates act similarly, in the wake of the Kyūbi attack. Nice to know her suffering was shared with so many others. Petty, even selfish, but nice. Comforting.

"I'm sorry – do you mean they... passed away?" Gently queried Iruka.

Olivia didn't have to fake the sadness on her face as she nodded.

"Ah. I am sorry." Iruka checked his watch then sat down opposite her, crouching in a mimic position. "I know how you feel – truly. This doesn't help now, but someday, someday you'll notice that... that it gets easier, you know, the pain. Eventually, you'll be able to think of them and smile. And it's okay if that takes time."

Iruka gave a gentle smile, and Olivia offered a small nod in return. She was waiting for Iruka to offer to take her to the correct classroom, but again; was Iruka even a teacher yet? He was in the academy section of the building... but maybe he had come from the Mission Assignment desk, or the Hokage's Office? Olivia was surprised she remembered those were all in the same building as the Academy.

 _'I guess Iruka would know how to deal with loss – losing his parents in the Kyūbi attack. I wonder if I... if I'm not able to... To return home... If it will get easier to accept this place... No – I'll never stop wanting to go home. This will never be my home. Never. I never want to belong to a place that uses child soldiers. That gives parents concessions if they are willing to give their child up for shinobi training. That would allow that Cage seal the Hyūga clan uses. Never.'_  
They sat in silence for a few moments, both lost in thought before Olivia decided to speak up. She wasn't keen to get to class in the slightest, but the longer she put it off, the more nervous she would be of it. Best just to get it over with.

"Ah, um I-" She began, before realising she hadn't actually been introduced to him yet.

Iruka realised the same thing with an easy grin and a hand sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. "Ah ah – I forgot to introduce myself. I am Umino Iruka, pleased to meet you."

He gave a long nod in lieu of a bow, due to his position crouched on the floor.

_'Easy way to find out if he's teaching yet.'_

"Nice to meet you, Umino-sensei. My name is G-ahem, Koharuno Kumiko" Olivia just about caught herself from giving her actual name, and then gave a long nod in return.

"Ahh – hah! I'm not a teacher, so Iruka-san is just fine. I am actually considering becoming an Academy instructor – so maybe one day you can call me Iruka-sensei!"

' _He is so young. I have cousins older than him. That's adorable. And terrifying. He could probably kill me before I realised that he even had moved. Or put me in a genjutsu. He's probably armed right now with kunai and shuriken and even exploding tags. That's pretty deceptive – he looks too kind. Though that probably made him good at infiltration. Moving on from that however – I still have no idea where I am meant to be going for class.'_

"How old are you Kumiko-chan?" Iruka's question brought Olivia back out of her ruminations.

"Er – I'm nine years old."

Iruka thought for a moment, eyes looking up and to the side as he made a mental check. "That would put you in... Ahh Shoumaru's class I believe. How about we walk over there and see if you feel up to going inside?"

_'Perfect.'_

"Okay Iruka-san." And for the sake of – well, she was meeting the Iruka-sensei – continuing the conversation and building on what Mebuki had said yesterday, she then added, "You're a Chūnin right? What kinds of options are there for Kunoichi to take? Like I know about the Paperwork nin..."

Iruka started guiding Olivia back down the hallway and then through a couple turns whilst he listed off some potential Ninja jobs. "Well – there are Courier nin, who have to carry important parcels and messages through danger zones; there are the Anbu... who do extra-secret missions at direct order from the Hokage, and of course Med-nin who are trained in many healing techniques."

' _Me_ _d-nin! That would be good... if I was stuck here long term I mean. And – I wouldn't be put on the frontline in the war then, would I? Yes. Good. That's what I could aim towards for now then, as a back-up plan_.' Olivia thought, happily.  
She nodded as Iruka continued to explain different ninja jobs, including those from other countries – like Hunter-nin and Cooking-nin a little further, though none interested her as much as the Med-nin option. It would also help with her survival rates - if she did get injured, she could heal herself. And, with her apparent small chakra reserves and relation to Sakura, she might have a natural affinity for that style of jutsu anyway; where chakra control is so vital.

Finally, Iruka led her up to a door and turned to look at her. "Ready to go in? I need to go soon – will you be alright."

Olivia nodded. ' _Better get started with this whole ninja training business.'_

"Thank you for helping me, Iruka-san."

"You are welcome, Kumiko-chan." Iruka turned to her and smiled encouragingly. "Keep your chin up and work hard – ok? Make your parents proud. I know it's tough – but the best thing to do right now is to distract yourself. Pick something to work towards – whether it be Hokage or teacher, medic or even the everyday ninja – and throw yourself into it."

Smiling lightly, Olivia nodded. That was nearly exactly what she had been telling herself since she'd arrived here.

Iruka then politely knocked on the door.

At the "Come in," he opened the door and smiled in a friendly manner at the chūnin inside, who was writing something on the blackboard. Despite the angle from door to blackboard, Olivia could just about read what he had written:  
 **Kawarimi no Jutsu.**

When he had finished the very last stroke of chalk, he turned to greet Olivia and Iruka.

Shoumaru was a man in his late fifties with kind eyes and smile lines, wearing blue ninja garb with a headband, but no flak jacket – which led Olivia to assume, with his age in mind, that he was a retired ninja. "Ahh – Kumiko-chan. You've come back to us. That's good, that's very good – we've missed you. I was wondering if you would be returning today."

Fiddling with her top – what a time to remember how nervous she used to be about meeting strangers – she gave a small smile as she walked into the class. "Kon'nichiwa, Shoumaru-sensei." She added a respectful bow.

He smiled again, revealing the crows' feet in the corners of his eyes, and gave a nod in return. "We've had a change of seating plan since you were last with us, but I do believe your friends saved a seat for you in advance. So, go sit down – we're doing some theory on the Substitution jutsu but for now you won't need anything more than a pen at the ready." Oliva nodded then looked across the classroom. Many students were looking at her, some whispering to their desk mates, hands doing a sorry job at concealing the comments. Olivia could hear several rumours going around the classroom regarding Kumiko's absence from the academy. Thankfully, she didn't care. Olivia noticed a few girls smiling widely at her, gesturing for her to sit with them at their desk.

Olivia quickly turned around to say goodbye to Iruka, who had come in with her and had been quietly chatting to Shoumaru. ' _No doubt commenting on finding me in the hallway and on our little pep talk. Fair enough.'_

"Thank you again Iruka-san, for helping me and talking with me." Iruka looked more abashed this time; being thanked in front of so many other eyes, even if they were mainly the eyes of children. "Quite alright Kumiko-chan; I'll leave you in your sensei's care. Ja ne." Iruka then waved goodbye and moved to leave.

Shoumaru, who had by then been asking various students to hand out exercise books, textbooks and if anyone needed a spare pen, looked around when Olivia mentioned Iruka's name and just as Iruka made a step towards the door, interjected.

"Iruka? Oh – Iruka-san. I remember you! Class – meet one of the most infamous pranksters this academy had ever seen. Why in one year – when he was scarcely much older than you are, he must have pranked on his poor Academy sensei at least a dozen. And those are just the ones we could prove he was responsible for!" Shoumaru jovially announced, clearly holding no ill will towards Iruka at all.

"…Ah, you do remember me Shoumaru-sensei."

"It took me a second or so to recognise you, but who could forget your name? I must have yelled it often enough when you were my student. Clearly those pranks did no harm – I've heard excellent things regarding your trap-making skills."  
Iruka flushed boyishly at the praise. "Ah sensei – thank you. I do need to be going now."

Shoumaru laughed, "I've tortured you enough for today. Be on your way – but I will be checking my door for any buckets of paint before I leave... or maybe I'll use one of my students as a tester. Maybe you Miruku-kun, given how many times you have forgotten your homework!"

The class laughed and Iruka used the distraction to make a quick get-away – tempted though he was to at least leave a thumb-tack on his sensei's chair, if just for old times' sake.

"Right-" Shoumaru stood front and centre at the bottom of the classroom and clapped his hands twice to draw attention. "-Now that my delightful former student has escaped and our class has had Kumiko-chan returned to us, we can make a start. As we can see on the board, we're going to look at the Kawarimi no jutsu." He circled the title.

"I shall go over the uses of this jutsu, its drawbacks, the hand seals and any other information that might be relevant. You should be taking notes – I will write some of this on the board, but you will need to write more than that. And neatly. I noticed several books are starting to use spider scrawl as a writing form." He gave a mock glare pointedly at a few students, one of whom ducked his head. Shoumaru smiled at this. "I think we need to hear my Handwriting story again, don't we class?"

Oliva will admit, the unanimous groan the class gave did make her chuckle.

Shoumaru, delightedly ignoring the groans, continued. "Yes, yes we do. In fact – does anyone what to start us off? Hm – Kumiko-chan, you know this one off by heart, don't you?" Shoumaru smiled and gestured to her.

Olivia of course had no idea. She opened her mouth, meaning to admit she did not know, but all that came out was a squeak. Olivia felt herself flush as everyone's eyes trained on her. Mercifully, Shoumaru quickly looked about to pick another student, but before he could, a boy with spiky black hair shot up, and started to speak.

"When sensei was a newly made chūnin, he did a mission near one of our country's borders and reporting back to Konoha the comings and goings of all persons across a specific stretch of road. Sensei ended up having to be relieved from his duties as his reports were so messily written. It is said even Konoha's best graphologists struggled to decipher his writing. Some were worried that he had got in trouble and was trying to communicate a secret message back to Konoha's intelligence base. A fight was even started between the paperwork nins over the correct reading of one of his reports; on whether sensei was referring to a squad of armed bees or a family of knife-wielding chickens entering our borders."

A few students interrupted with various 'Bzzzzz' and 'Bwak-bwak' sounds; to Shoumaru's delight ( _'Actually more than that; he's joined in_ ') and various pieces student-artwork displaced proudly on the walls caught Olivia's eyes – highly cartoonish renderings of some very dangerous looking bees and chickens.

 _'Hard to believe he's training child soldiers in this classroom_.'

In fact, she was quite enjoying the story, though clearly everyone around her had heard the story at least ten times. Though the boy dictating could not have spoken in a manner more serious, despite the silly nature of the story. She couldn't imagine a more monotonous voice! ' _Though his voice just makes the story funnier in comparison!'_

A closer look at him – as he 'ahem'-ed until the students (and sensei) stopped their animal sounds – allowed her to notice the symbol on his back - a large Uchiha crest.

' _The clan's still alive! Huh – but if Sakura's seven, then so is Sasuke and I know the clan was massacred when he was eight. I'm positive. Which means_ –' Olivia's thoughts trailed off as she realised the boy in front of her had his days most likely numbered.

Whilst earlier her thoughts had strayed spitefully into refusal to recognise these anime-verse characters as 'real', especially the background characters, the sudden placement of a boy she knew would be killed in a matter of months, weeks or even days made a cool shiver run down her spine.

'He isn't real' sounded more like an excuse now. Olivia's attention was drawn off the boy's back as he continued, as the Bzzzing finally stopped and the last 'Bwak' sounded (from the girl sat next to Olivia).

"When sensei was later made to read aloud each of his reports in front of the Hokage and the Paperwork-nin, it was revealed he was actually referring to a small family of 8 refugees – all human – who were also transporting their chickens. If you go to the Mission assignment desk even now, Shoumaru-sensei is still referred to as Bee-nin or Chicken-blade by the Paperwork-nin, depending on who you speak to."

Shoumaru burst out laughing at the end, clearly finding the story of his own embarrassment as funny as ever.

Olivia for her part wondered how truthful the story was. She could understand verbally mistaking eight for bees; but managing to write it down poorly enough to get them mixed up? Shoumaru must have written the word phonetically (hachi, ハチ). ' _How do you forget the symbol for 8? It's literally just 2 strokes! 八_!'

Olivia, lost in thought, didn't realise her eyes were still on the Uchiha until Shoumaru thanked him for his narration (Thank you for that, Tsuba-kun!") and the boy took the time to turn towards her and smirk.

...' _What? Oh yeah – I was meant to tell the story. Well. He sure showed me!"_ Olivia thought, marginally mockingly. Though how insulted could she be? If a nine-year-old kid felt better for having done this? Especially a soon-to-be-massacred kid. Consequently, Olivia didn't so much as blink at the boy, aside from a single raised eyebrow when the boy responded to her lack of response with the classic 'sticky tongue out'.

The boy turned back around shortly afterwards and when Olivia got her book, she quickly flipped through to see how Kumiko had worked; her handwriting, her language skills and so on.

 _'Ok – here we go, let's have a look_.'

Perfectly neat handwriting. It looked almost typed in places.  
No spelling errors.  
Notes upon notes – even footnotes. The only negative remarks Shoumaru-sensei seemed to have written were asking Kumiko to 'Please stop writing off topic comments in the margins, Kumiko-chan' and... 'Is this written in code, Kumiko-chan?'

' _That's something to think about later. No idea what セケレトゥ is. Sekeretou? That doesn't sound like any Japanese I know, off the top of my head_.'

Other than that - ticks, smiley faces and 'full marks' all over the place. This kid was clearly smart – probably more so that Olivia herself was. Shoumaru had even commented on a few of Kumiko's side notes with 'Excellent observation!' and 'Good question – ask me tomorrow after class.'

Olivia, with great difficulty, resisted the urge to facepalm.

' _No... this is okay. I'm seventeen with over a decade of education – if anything this makes it easier. Better to pretend I'm an academically gifted child than an idiot child. Less suspicious if I reveal more knowledge than expected.'_

"Now - those who have taken the early graduation exams will be overly familiar with this jutsu and possibly sick of it, however - you will still be expected to relearn and practise the jutsu with your classmates, for which this is still a fairly new technique. Understood?" He glanced at a few of his students, including the Uchiha and Kumiko, before continuing.

' _This makes things trickier though. This isn't like academic knowledge where I can use skills from my world. I have no idea how to even find my chakra!'_

"The Kawarimi no Jutsu, also known as the Body Replacement Jutsu and Substitution technique, is one of the most basic jutsu in a ninja's arsenal, and yet it is one of the most useful. It-"

"What? No way Sensei!" yelled a boy a few spaces from Olivia. Shoumaru smiled slightly, and then asked him why he disagreed so strongly that he would 'dare to interrupt his beloved, ingenious and dashingly handsome sensei.'

The boy in question, who Shoumaru had called 'Kao-kun', mumbled a half-hearted apology. "Sorry Shoumaru-sensei, but there are way cooler jutsu than that one – like ones that make things explode or... catch fire or..."

"And yet," Shoumaru cut in, "the Substitution technique is used, on average, six times on every combat-based mission; it is used by genin, chūnin, jōnin – even by the ANBU. The jutsu allows the user to replace themselves with a block of wood, or something similar, the instant before they are attacked. Why are you, when you start using this jutsu, likely to use a block of wood to replace with?"

A few hands shot up.

"Nami-chan?"

"Because the Fire country is mainly forest land. When we first start going on missions, we'll probably have missions in the Fire Country – so our trees will give us the wood we need for the Jutsu."

"Good, good – well done Nami-chan, perfectly explained. Now the attacker will hear their strike hit something – be that wood or anything else you use. Wood is better than stone as it makes a softer thump when hit; sounds more similarly to a body being struck. In that instant, the attacker will believe they were successful in their attack. Skilled users of this jutsu will also develop an optical illusion within the technique, so their opponent will also see their strike succeed, just for a moment. What could you do in this moment, whilst your opponent is deceived?"

A few other hands shot up, including a girl at Olivia's desk. "Yes Sango-chan?"

"You could use that moment to escape."

"Very good – or...?"

Only two hands this time. The Uchiha and, surprisingly, Olivia's. ' _Well – even I know this. It's obvious_.'

"Ah – go on Kumiko-chan."

"Counterstrike. Whilst they're distracted, and not expecting you to be able to."

There was a visible pause – Shoumaru and the rest of the class clearly waiting for Olivia to elaborate. Thinking quickly about basic anatomy and some things she still remembered from the Wave arc, she continued.

"For example, you could strike from behind and aim for the top of the spine where it joins at the head. Or go for the jugular. Or a kidney – though that wouldn't be so immediately lethal." Getting distracted by the question, Olivia went further. "In general, the neck would be a good place to strike a lethal blow. Or you could aim for the joints – like the shoulder; it would incapacitate them and they would find it harder to attack or defend if the fight continued. Though, I guess killing them would do that as well..." She trailed off – realising how not-purely theoretical this discussion was. _'I think I just advised a group of nine-year-olds on the perks of lethal counterstrikes.._.' Surprisingly, a few chuckles were heard, including from the girls next to Olivia.

"Classic Kumiko." Muttered someone, though clearly not in a mean way, as the person turned around and smiled at Olivia as they spoke.

The sound of laughter increased, though Olivia was too mortified at her murderous verbal diarrhoea to feel embarrassed. At least Kumiko seemed to have a similar habit of over-answering questions; given the class literally waited for it to happen.

Shoumaru smiled and nodded at Olivia – "Thank you Kumiko-chan for that expert answer. Very good." He then turned to look more generally at the class. "As your classmate pointed out – that moment is the perfect chance for you to counter attack. And yes you could attack lethally, though at this stage-" He glanced back at Olivia "-stick to incapacitation; shallow strikes to the torso or the joints in the legs. There is a practical reason for avoiding cutting the jugular in a normal engagement with a non-shinobi enemy..."

Olivia's mind spat out an answer immediately. "Oh – bloodstains!"

Uchiha Tsuba – who had raised his hand – turned and glared at Olivia.

"Don't yell out Kumiko-chan~" Shoumaru singsonged, this obviously being something Kumiko did frequently. "But yes – bloodstains are suspicious and annoying. Plus try getting a room in an inn when you soaked in arterial blood! It will be unavoidable in some situations of course. However, if your enemy is a non-shinobi, and instead just a random thug - which is much more likely when you first start taking missions outside of the village - as they will not be as strong or as fast as someone with shinobi training, you will be able to be more picky with your attacks."

Which... was a really odd thing to say, from Olivia's perspective. Of course, she didn't want any of these children to be attacking with intent to kill, but surely you shouldn't go into a fight intending to be merciful. ' _That's a good way to get killed! Never underestimate your enemy.'_

Olivia looked around the room as she thought about Shoumaru's advice, considered the room's occupants for a moment and noticed something.

' _The Uchiha is only clan kid in this entire classroom! I can't see any other clan symbols... Ah – and this class is full of nine-year-olds, still years away from graduation. Probably mostly civilian-born kids like Kumiko. Who probably need to be eased into the ninja-way? This discussion will be probably be repeated in a couple years' time in a much different tone.'_

"The jutsu involves you covering your body – including your hair and clothes and anything on your person you don't want left behind – with a thin layer of chakra. Now – it's better to add a little too much chakra than not enough and risk leaving a piece of yourself behind." Shoumaru advised, with a chorus of gasps springing up in response.

"Leave part of us behind!?"

Shoumaru laughed at their faces before adding, "Well – your chakra system actually protects you from leaving any actual limbs behind – but finger and toenails are a genuine concern! But as long as you ensure your footwear is fully covered, your toenails are safe. Now – here are the hand seals. Tiger → Boar → Ox → Dog → Snake. Again - Tiger → Boar → Ox → Dog → Snake. Now copy after me. Again, again. Good - very good Kaori, why don't you help Kumiko - she looks a little lost." Shoumaru asked, with a curious look at Olivia's fumbling hands.

' _How do I do the Ox seal?!'_

The girl beside Olivia turned to her smiling. "Hey Kumi-chan, you better? It's good to see you back... I mean we know why you weren't here the past few weeks... with what happened -"

"I said help not chat." Shoumaru said, chuckling when Kaori's face blushed.

"Yes, sensei." She smiled again, then showed Olivia the seals which Olivia dutifully copied. Her trouble did not go unnoticed.

"It's been really tough on you, hasn't it? I mean - Koharuno Kumiko? Needing help? I've seen you do this jutsu before... even sensei mentioned how fast you picked it up…"

' _Ah – shit. Knew this would be noticeable. And it's just the first day!'_

Seeing Kumiko's expression, she quickly added, "Don't worry - you'll catch up to your usual speed in no time!"

"Yeah - right." Olivia replied awkwardly. She didn't know what else to say, but thankfully Shoumaru started talking again.

"As we should all now know, the Jutsu is used to very quickly replace your body with another object, like a log. It uses only a little chakra, but as I have said - is an incredibly useful technique. Any questions?"

' _Actually... there is one thing – plus Shoumaru looks like he's expecting me anyway. He's already looking this way.'_ Shoumaru gestured for her to ask her question. "Well, I was wondering, if it was possible to replace objects with other objects...? Using this technique?"

Shoumaru's eyebrows rose at the unexpected question. This child never failed to surprise him. "Well that's a question I have never heard before. Can't say I've ever thought about it. Hmm - yes, yes, I suppose it would be possible - theoretically - though you would need very good chakra control. The chakra system in the user helps stabilises the technique. You would need to create a false chakra source in at least one of the objects - any other questions?"

Unable to contain her intrigue, Olivia's hand rose again and Shoumaru chuckled. "Yes Kumiko-chan?"

"What about replacing an object with a person other than yourself, or substituting yourself for another person?" This time, Shoumaru looked well and truly baffled for a moment before bursting out in laughter.

"Oh Kumiko-chan, you think of the most interesting things. Wow - an excellent question. This is actually a theorised use for this jutsu. Being able to use an E rank jutsu in such an offensive method... That would be impressive, because it would require perfect chakra control, good enough that the person you are attempting to move doesn't notice. And they are near definite to do so. And the time it would take you to cover the person in your own chakra is time they could use to attack you. Let alone trying to do this whilst they are actively moving around, probably as I said attacking you. Are there any other questions? No – okay everyone line up down the middle and when it gets to your turn – substitute yourself with this stool."

He put the stool, which previously had been used as a place to stack student worksheets, about two feet from the beginning of the line. "I want everyone to stand two spaces behind the person at the front – don't distract them. Now – begin."

' _Wait what! Hold your horses and ninja magic. Right now –we're doing a jutsu immediately? Shoumaru said only Tsuba and Kumiko have even done this before. He's just going expect these kids to just do it? Is that even safe? An actual jutsu - with chakra?!'_

"Come on Kumiko-chan!" Chirped Kaori, who had already stood up with a couple of the other girls next to her. Olivia smiled, covering up her annoyance.

She couldn't care less if her attempt failed, though the confusion it would cause from her apparent prior success with the jutsu would be unfortunate - but she did not feel like losing her finger nails or toe nails today, thank you! She cringed inwardly at the idea of how painful that would be as she made her way to stand with Kumiko's friends. Kaori (hazel eyes and long raven pigtails) followed the other two girls (both with dark blue eyes and either brown and dark blonde hair, worn down and cut short) along the desks to the line of students forming.

Kaori must have had a sharp eye and noticed the ill-ease Olivia couldn't quite keep off Kumiko's face. "Sango, Maka – how about we go first this time – Kumiko hasn't done this in a while, right? Since you were prepping for the early graduation exam. We don't care if we mess up." She said self-depreciatingly. The blonde smiled and replied. "Sure, no problem. Right Sango?"

The other girl, Sango, grinned at Olivia, which seemed to be the only thing people had done to her since she had arrived, and put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry Kumiko-chan, you'll be fine. You don't always have to get it right first time round - we never do. You'll be back to your old amazing self in no time!" She added with a wink.

"Thanks." Olivia replied, still worrying about her fingernails.

"Plus, we already know you can do it! Even Tsuba didn't learn it so quickly!"

' _Great – Kumiko-chan is practically perfect as basic ninjutsu – whilst I don't even know how to summon my chakra.'_

It was relieving, watching how many students tried and failed on their attempts – nearly everyone failed on their first, and then on their second try only a handful managed to swap places with the stool. Most students took their time concentrating, usually taking around a minute and a half to go from making the hand seals (slowly and steadily) to releasing the jutsu to whatever result.

As each person came up, Shoumaru would give them some advice and feedback after their attempt, successful or otherwise:

"Well done Tsuba – you remember this well. Use a little less chakra next time; you have good chakra reserves but best form good habits now."

"Use more chakra Tamoto-kun – you're so close"

"You're sending the chakra all over the place – visualise covering the stool with your chakra in your mind's eye"

"Whoa – calm down Kao-kun, you're using too much chakra"

"Suiko-chan – you aren't actually using chakra. Do the hand seals, now feel that – the energy – just below your heart? Feel that? That's the chakra. Imagine it like this – you're using hand seals to summon and mould the chakra from within you, then you're controlling it and moving it to where it needs to go and finally - you're using the words to activate the chakra and release the technique. Understand?"

From Olivia's position, she could see the girl nod. "Kawarimi no Jutsu!" There was a big puff of smoke that, when it had cleared, revealed that the girl and the stool had swapped places.

"Well done Suiko-chan, well done! You used a little bit too much chakra – but nonetheless you did it – well done." Suiko skipped back to her chair, beaming from ear to ear as she became one of the successful few.

The rest of the children in front of her, including Kaori, Maka and Sango, each had a turn. They all failed their initial attempt and were given appropriate advice. Then, it was Olivia's turn. She gulped, and slowly stepped forward.

' _Please don't let me lose my fingernails! Or toenails_!'

Shoumaru smiled encouragingly.

' _Ok – handseals. Tiger. Boar. Ox. Dog. Snake._ '

One brief pause – she could feel it. Kumiko's chakra, trained already with responding with those handseals welled and formed instinctively. ' _Wow, okay this is almost worth it – being trapped in another world. I can feel it. I can feel my chakra. Chakra – it's so warm. Wow – okay, now don't lose concentration. Quickly – I need to surround my body with it, create a little bridge to the stool, and then surround the stool.'_  
Carefully she felt her way, moving the chakra like a thin veil – noticing how easy it was. Her worries had been for nothing – her chakra (Kumiko's?) moved as fluidly and responsively as if Olivia did this every day _. 'Ok, did I get everything? Oh, nearly missed my pinkie toenails.'_

Olivia considered her body and the stool, and summoning her chakra, pulled a thin stream – the thinnest string, a hair's width – and pushed it towards the stool.

This part was much more difficult; the chakra felt like a gas, but heavy like water though with no care for gravity. Her chakra, though happy to stay in exact position covering her person, and easy enough to draw into a thin wire, wouldn't stay still in that form and kept curling back in on itself. Wary about time, though she had only taken about a minute to get this far, Olivia quickly opted to send the chakra through the floor, instead of the air as Shoumaru had advised. It took a little concentration – the floor full of old wood with dead chakra systems for her little strand to get lost in – but she managed to get her strand to the stool.

From earlier advice Shoumaru had given to a previous student, she made sure to form a sort of temporary chakra vein within the stool – made easier as the stool had once been a living tree and had existing chakra routes - so she would swap the entire stool, not just attempt to swap with its surface.

' _Well... my nails are all covered... Here we go. An actual jutsu!'_ Taking a deep breath, she spoke whilst imagining her body swapping places with the stool.

"Kawarimi no Jutsu."

There was a tiny puff, and Olivia's perspective changed as she took the stool's previous position.

"Well done, Kumiko-chan – perfect! Only improvement needed is your speed. You didn't waste a drop of chakra, did you?" Shoumaru praised loudly. She saw Kaori and the other two girls send her a thumbs' up, and heard someone sat at the front desk just behind her mutter, "She's been gone for weeks and she's still better than all of us. Even you Tsuba – sure she's not the Uchiha?"

That was easily the coolest thing Olivia had ever done. She had just done an actual jutsu. With chakra. Jutsu! Chakra!

She smiled proudly – ' _about time something went right!'_ – and moved to walk back to her seat.

Just as she did so, the universe was reminded it was 'Kick Olivia Greenley Week' and Olivia suddenly felt the energy sweep out of her, like a plug had been pulled. Her chakra, that she had felt still welled within her, dissipated, most fading away into her torso, some following chakra pathways to her head. Olivia would have thought this chakra travelling towards her head would have fought against her sudden light-headedness, but if anything, it continued to grow.

Her heart rate suddenly dropped like a stone and she found herself short of breath. Olivia's head suddenly felt like someone had previously hit it repeatedly with a wok. All within a matter of seconds, her eyelids became heavy and her arms like lead. Her knees gave way and she landed on the floor in a flop, Shoumaru already leaping towards her, catching her torso from tipping forward. She barely noticed; she was so tired – so incredibly tired.

She blinked – one long, long blink that made her vision turn to black and white fuzz that matched the roaring in her ears, and when she eventually was able to her eyes, she was lying on the floor in a whilst Shoumaru yelled; at her, at the class, she wasn't sure.

She felt so confused, ' _Why is he yelling? Why am I so tired? My head – ow! It hurts! Where did this headache come from? Why is everything so heavy? Why? I don't...Why is he still yelling? What's he saying? Ku-mi-ko, Kumiko, who is that? Who – oh... that's me? No wait, no... That's not me... I'm Olivia...'_  
Olivia noted, with what little consciousness remained, that as she noticed her headache, she also felt her chakra welling and then disappearing inside her own head.  
But before she could spend a second to rationalise that, all faded to black.

* * *

We will all (One Two Three) Jump   
_Thursday, 5th January, late morning, Konoha Ninja Academy, Classroom: Shoumaru_

_'I'm an idiot, I'm an idiot, I'm an idiot. Come on, come on – wake up kid!'_ Akiko's panicked thoughts flew rampart through her mind as she channelled chakra into little Kumiko's body, encouraging the child's own chakra system to convert spiritual and physical energy into her own chakra. It was a stupid overthought. If she had thought for a second that the child would be doing a jutsu – even a basic E rank – the very next day, she wouldn't have encouraged the child to attend so soon.

With Kumiko's current chakra levels; which were evidentially enough to keep the child conscious as she had been aware and perfectly responsive yesterday, despite having so little chakra; Kumiko could be trusted to attend the academy.

Getting out of her room, taking short walks, taking part in social interactions and returning to normal routines would gently encourage her body to make more chakra. Going to the academy provided all of those things – and it was important not to let students fall to far behind the rest of her classmates. Encouraging Kumiko's guardians to send her to academy the next day was an entirely rational piece of medical advice. If it was an entirely theory-based day. Maybe some small taijutsu. In peace time, a nine-year-old academy student were barely touching on ninjutsu lessons. The chance of her having a ninjutsu lesson... this kid had awful luck.

The child's eyes fluttered before opening; her green eyes dazed and confused. "Akiko-sensei?"

She was alright!

"Kumiko? Kumiko-chan - can you hear me?"

Kumiko nodded before moving to sit further up from where Akiko had placed her slumped against the wall of the classroom.

"Where'd ev'ryone go?"

"When you collapsed, your sensei sent your classmates out for an early break. How are you feeling?"

She watched the child frown, "Hmm, tired? I fainted? After I did the Kawarimi?"

"Yes. We're going to the nurse room– I'm going to do a check up on you there. A message has already been sent to your guardians."

Akiko watched Kumiko stand up, wobbling slightly even now and still frowning. When Kumiko touched the side of her head, she voiced her concern. "Did you hit your head? Shoumaru-sensei said he'd caught you but..."

"No, no I don't think so... how long was I unconscious?"

Akiko slowly led Kumiko out of the classroom. "Not long. Three minutes but Shoumaru-sensei said you kept nearly regaining consciousness before blacking out again." Kumiko slowly nodded as she spoke.

"Yeah, I think I remember that happening. Is that normal?"

Akiko shrugged a little helplessly as she opened the door to the nurse room. With a chakra-system so apparently used to low chakra levels as Kumiko's seemed to be, who knew what the normal was?

"It might be... you seem to have a low base line chakra level. There are some other factors as well. I'll discuss it when your guardians arrive. Hey watch out!" She exclaimed as a small blonde child sprinted around a nearby corner in the hallway and straight into Kumiko, who swayed but managed to stay upright. Phew. The boy stumbled back and tripped on his feet, landing softly onto his behind.

"You shouldn't run in hallways, young man! You could cause a..." Akiko trailed off, voice hushing to a whisper as the boy looked up.

Those whisker marks on his face. Eyes squinted already into a smile as he laughed fey and wild. Showed teeth with canines just a little too long for a non-Inuzaka. His baggy off-white t-shirt and green cargo shorts deceptively non-descript, hiding the threat this... creature posed.

"Heheheh! Sorry! Didn't seeya there." Akiko had managed to avoid the child up to this point. Hadn't had to deal so directly with being in his presence. His chakra was an oppressive force. She could feel it. She had to fight to not fall into a flashback from _that night_ , seven years ago. Even just the memory of the injuries people had suffered from merely being too close to that _monstrous_ chakra was enough to make her heart skip a beat. Let alone recalling the injuries of those ninja would had desperately fought the beast before Yondaime-sama had defeated it. And those were the lucky ones who had survived, at least long enough to be taken (carried, dragged) to the med-nins.

Akiko watched in quiet horror as Kumiko, without thought or mind to the danger; without consideration for her tiny, weak chakra system that Akiko couldn't even sense when placed next to the Jinchūriki no Kyūbi; with a kind smile on her nine-year-old face, reached out her hand and helped Uzumaki Naruto to his feet. She felt like she was watching a fox enter the henhouse only for a chicken to willingly jump into the predator's mouth.

"Don't worry about it! No harm done. Be more careful next time though!" It was difficult to say who was more shocked. Akiko or Naruto. Kumiko's hand was still in the grips of the Jinchūriki's. Akiko had to fight the urge to tear the girl out of the boy's clutches.

The boy's face soon lost his surprised ~~his mouth did not wobble. It didn't. The boy was deceptive~~ look and he smiled wild again.

"No – it was my fault. Sorry." The boy practically _chirped – Akiko wanted to scream_ – before he caught Akiko's expression. She wasn't sure what her face looked like, but she was darkly pleased when it in turn killed the smile on the boy's face. ~~Even though the serious, confused look on his face was just as uncomfortable as the smile. Just for different reasons.~~

"Well – it's break. So – bye!" The boy waved and Akiko watched numbly as Kumiko waved back. She had to say something, right? She had a duty of care to all peoples of the village..

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Two rewritten! I am so much happier with this version


End file.
